Derek McInnes is eyeing ‘two or three’ more signings as Kilmarnock prepares for their crunch Europa League qualifier against Cercle Brugge next month.
The first-team squad returned to Rugby Park for their first day of pre-season today, with summer recruit Bruce Anderson linking up with his new teammates for the first time.
Following yesterday’s European draw, McInnes will have a squad keen to impress, but the Killie boss is striving to ensure his side is as strong as possible for the two-legged tie.
“We’re working hard to try and get two or three in,” McInnes told Killie TV. “Every position that we want to bring in, they’ve all been identified. We know the players we would like to try and get, so it's not as if there are balls up in the air and we're still undecided about who we want to bring. We want to bring in certain players and if we can't then we move down.
“There are options for all those positions that we're trying to bring in and hopefully we can be quite productive over the next couple of weeks, certainly ahead of the game, to get a few more additions in.”
The 52-year-old was with his son, Charlie, when the Europa League draw was made and claims although he is excited about the prospect of facing Cercle Brugge, he is preparing for what will be a ‘difficult’ match.
“From a technical point of view, I think Cercle Brugge will be up there,” he said. “I think it's a difficult game for us, but we knew the calibre of teams we were going to be involved with and we knew it was going to be difficult so any team that was named, I'd be saying the same thing.
“It's just exciting to see Kilmarnock in that draw and for us to go and, as I say, try and be as best prepared as we can for it because, you know, nobody will really give us a chance.
"The Belgian league is littered with top talent. We’ve got a young squad, we don't know too much about them, certainly we didn't know anything about them really up until the draw. But by the time the game comes we'll all be well versed in their strengths and their qualities.”
